Disclaimer - Rory lives in Stars Hollow still but not with her mother any more. Sookie-Lane is Logan's child but he doesn't get a chance to visit a lot.
Jess had never liked unpacking. As a child, he and his mother had constantly been moving in and out of houses that her boyfriends had owned, their possessions being precariously moved every few weeks. Even when he moved to Luke's he didn't bother fully unpacking and organising his items, knowing that he would most likely be leaving soon. None of those places had ever truly felt right.
Moving into Rory's house was different. As soon as he stepped through the front doors, he felt calm.
He'd unpacked all of his belongings straight away, joking with Rory that 'the quicker I move in, the less chance you have to change your mind'. She'd shook her head at his response and kissed him on the cheek, leaving him to neatly place all of his clothes in his drawers and scatter his personal knick knacks around the house. They were mainly things he had come to treasure; including photos of him and Luke from when they lived together and photos of him, Rory and Sookie-Lane on their various outings.
Living in Rory's house felt different due to one simple reason. He felt at home.
-
He'd been living with Rory and Sookie for a few weeks now, the three of them settling into a cosy routine. In the mornings, Jess would wake up before his girls did and prepare a nice breakfast of cereal just as the soft pitter-patter of feet sounded on the stairs and Sookie-Lane appeared, clutching Colonel Clucker in one hand and her blanket in the other. Then, Jess would prepare coffee and pancakes for Rory as Sookie-Lane sat babbling away in her high chair, contentedly eating her cereal. At around 10am, Rory would come shuffling in, her hair haphazardly thrown in a bun, and eat her breakfast as Jess finished his work from the previous day.
Normally, Rory would take Sookie to day care or Miss Patty's whilst she and Jess went to work. Today was not one of those days.
The morning had run smoothly until Rory found out that one of the kids in Sookie's daycare had had the chicken pox and that Miss Patty had gone on holiday to Bermuda for a few weeks. The couple had then rushed round trying to clear their schedules for the day or sort out a suitable babysitter. Jess had managed to reschedule some publishing meetings to the next week but Headmaster Charleston refused to give Rory the time off, mentioning how teachers at Chilton needed to give at least 12 hours notice that they were not coming in unless they were really ill. So Rory had rushed off to work, with the promise of Chinese food for dinner.
Which led to where Jess was now- sitting on the floor of the living room with various toys balanced on him. They'd gone through various make believe scenarios- with Jess playing a dragon, dinosaur and, most commonly, a knight. After exhausting all of the ideas in her head, he found Sookie-Lane climbing into her toy's box in an attempt to find something else to do. Chuckling to himself, he made his way over to the toy box and knelt down in front of her.
"Hey Cupcake. How about we read a story?" He asked, placing the toys away in her box.
"But I heard all my stories already!" Sookie-Lane whined, still searching for toys.
"Ah, but you haven't heard my story yet." Jess grinned as Sookie's head turned to face him.
"You have a story?"
"That's right, I have a story. But first, we need a tidy house." Jess answered, surveying the living room. When Rory had left it, there were only a few items on the floor. But now, there were toys strewn everywhere and a failed attempt at a pillow fort in the corner. Sookie looked at him and then the mess, a frown replacing her smile.
"How about this? As soon as we get all of your toys in the box and the pillows away neatly, I'll tell you my story. Deal?" Jess offered, holding out his hand. Sookie's face scrunched up in thought before she took his hand and shook it.
"Deal."
After half an hour of cleaning, Jess and Sookie curled up on the couch, Colonel Clucker nestled under Sookie's head.
"Okay. Once Upon A Time…" Jess started.
"Wait!" Sookie exclaimed, shooting her head. "Where's your book? Mummy always tells me stories from her books!" Jess chuckled at her and ruffled her hair, earning a glare in reply.
"Actually this story is in my head. It's the story of a young princess named Rory and a stable boy named Jess…"
"But that's yours and Mummy's names."
"This story is about me and your mum. It's about how we met and how we came to live here."
"Really? I already like this story." She stated, snuggling back into Colonel Clucker and watching him in anticipation.
"Once upon a time, there was a young princess named Rory, who lived with her Mum in the kingdom of Stars Hollow. Her grandparents were King Richard and Queen Emily of Hartford, who lived in the neighbouring kingdom. Now, Princess Rory didn't grow up as a princess. She grew up as a normal villager until one day, she got accepted to the prestigious Chilton Princess Academy. Now, her mother Lorelai had run away from the Palace of Hartford when Rory was just a small baby and worked at the local inn to survive. She couldn't afford to send Rory to the academy so, after much thought, she went to ask the King and Queen for a favour. She wanted them to give her money to pay for Rory's school and she would pay them back as soon as she could. The Queen agreed to this on one condition: Princess Lorelai and Princess Rory would spend every Friday evening at the Palace of Hartford for a meal."
"Is that why we go to nanny's for dinner every week?" Sookie asked, peering up at Jess.
"Sort of." Jess replied. "Your grandma did pay your granny back all of the money but they kept visiting your granny because they wanted to. They had become a family again."
"I'm home!" Rory called, carrying two bags of Chinese through the front door.
"We're in here!" Jess whispered loudly as Rory walked into the living room. The sight in front of her melted her heart. Jess was curled up on the corner of the sofa, with Sookie-Lane tucked into his side clutching Colonel Clucker.
Her home had never felt better.
